An extract of Reverend J.H. Aughey's book The Iron Furnace or Slavery and Secession appeared in the Altoona Tribune on March 24, 1863. Aughey wrote that the poor whites of the South were "exceedingly ignorant" and claimed that not one in twenty could read. He also remarked that these whites "scarcely" spoke English. He specifically cited an old woman that said her daughter Sal, "yisterday sot the lather...